Hard Times
by Tristan's mysterial Lady
Summary: After 2 years of absence Aurora is coming back to the wall with her son. How will Tristan and Galahad react?
1. Introduction

**Hard Times - A Flashback**

Aurora was sitting in the wagon holding her little sleeping son close to her. She was on the way back to the Hadrian's Wall with a small army of the Romans. She was afraid of coming back to the Wall but also felt relief at the same time. The last two years had been horrible for her.

She had been living at the Wall, when a small group of the Romans wanted to take her with them back to Rome. She should be a "present" for their general Marcus in Rome. She couldn't believe that but they took her with them. She had hoped that one of the knights would have done something just to hold her there. But they didn't. She had been very upset and confused when Tristan hadn't come to say good bye but Galahad who wanted to know whom of the two ( Galahad and Tristan) she was really loving. Aurora had taken by surprise at his words, but she couldn't say. Her heart couldn't decide between the two knights. Aurora had felt that Galahad had been very sad about her words and had left him. It was as if she had destroyed all she had built up before within seconds. With confused and crazy feelings she had left the Wall, but she still was sure that the two men loved her. And that she would going to meet them again.

That fact and her son, born soon after her arriving in Rome, were the only things that kept her alive in these years. The Romans had raped her again and again on their way. But when they noticed she would gonna have a baby they stopped. When they arrived in Rome their general wasn't really happy about this, but didn't release her. She had to clean all of his rooms. Aurora had nothing against this decision, because so she could have enough time to look after her son, whom she gave the name Alexander. So she was cleaning Marcus' rooms all day and reared his son with the help of her new friend Iulia.

After almost two years staying in Rome a new group of Roman fighters was going to be sent to the Hadrian's Wall. Marcus wanted to see Aurora and during their meeting he told her that she wasn't be needed anymore. She could go whereever she wanted. So she asked if she could join the group. Marcus didn't agreed firstly because she would hinder his soldiers but as there were also some medicine Romanes joining he allowed her to join.

And today she would arrive at the Wall. She was wondering how Tristan and Galahad would react. Tristan would hide his feelings as good as he could, except for this one night and Galahad...she can't imagine how he would react. She hoped that Galahad wouldn't be angry at her anymore.  
She noticed that Alexander was going to awake and she reached for some water and bread. She thought who could be Alexander's father. She wasn't sure if it was one of the Romans or perhaps one of the knights. He had her blue eyes and dark hair, but sometimes she had the feeling that he has this special look in his eyes one of the knights mostly had. She really hoped that it was one of the knights. This would be better than a Roman. Her thoughts were interrupted by a Roman who looked in the wagon.

" We will soon arrive at the Wall. Get your stuff packed."


	2. The Arriving

Please review! Thnx!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters ( except for Aurora and Alexander). I wish I would!

**Chapter 1 The Arrival **

It was already midday when they arrived at the Wall. The group stopped and Aurora heared a voice speaking she hadn't heard since leaving.  
"Why should Rome send more soldiers?"  
"Artorius Castus. We were sent to help you and make sure that there will be no complacitions when the bishop comes here."  
"The bishop? Are 15 years already up?"  
"Not yet. He'll arrive in a few months, because...Well we should talk about this somewhere else."  
"Right. Follow me then. Jols will take care of your horses. Jols!"!  
Aurora could see that the Romans got off their horses and followed Arthur in the conference room while Jols was leading the horses in the stable.  
Aurora took Alexander in her arms and stepped out of the wagon with the others. Everyone was busying around, jostling her, but nobody noticed her. Aurora felt truely lost and for the first time she doubted that her decision to come back had been right. She was more afraid than ever before when she suddenly heard a voice behind her.  
" Can this really be? Are you really yourself or am I dreaming?"  
Aurora turned around an looked into the face of ...her old friend Vanora! Aurora felt very reliefed and excited that Vanora was the first person to met.She needed an objective and neutral person. Meeting Galahad or Tristan would be too much trouble for her right now. Vanora grabbed her arm and led her in a corner of the tavern. She took a pitcher of water and some apples and bread from the bar and sat down opposite to Aurora.  
"So you're finally back again. Tell me what's happened and who this little gentlemen is."  
She stroked through Alexander's hair and he giggled and screamed out. Aurora gave him a lovely kiss on his cheek and Vanora a constrained smile, before she took a deep breath and started speaking.  
" It...it...oh Vanora...it was like hell! Not the stay in Rome but the way to Rome. The general whom I was promised hadn't been as bad as I thought. He'd been been quite nice but the... the soldiers..."  
Tears leaked from her eyes falling on the table. Vanora could see that Aurora was fighting against the bad memories and the tears. She didn't want her to remember this awful experiences, but she also knew that Aurora could never erase the pictures from out of her mind. She had to live with them. Vanora walked around the table, took Aurora in her arms and soothed her.

Alexander slid off the lap of his mother, looked around in curiosity and waddled through the tavern, watching everything and everyone carefully. When he came to the sluce of water he stepped right into it, because he wasn't able yet to jump that far, but he didn't noticed the sluice anyway. He squeezed sweetly and went on. As he wanted to leave the tavern a man went in front of the child and stopped. Alexander who didn't noticed the man on his little discovery tour ran against those legs and fell back on the floor.  
" And what do we have here? You must be the youngest soldier I've ever seen." The man said and took the child on his arms. Alexander starred at the stranger in interest and curiosity. Normally he'd started crying if there were strangers around him, but he didn't. Something had to fascinate him Alexander.  
The man looked at him, kept on smiling and talking to him.  
"Where's your mama then? Can't imagine you're alone here, lil soldier. Huh...where's your mama?" He still looked carefully at Alexander and finally the child pointed with his fingers in direction to the bar.  
"There."  
"Let's get you back to your mum then, okay?", he said and led towards the bar.   
"Yes." came the sweet voice of Alexander, pressing his hands together. "Yay."

In the meantime Vanora still had Aurora in her arms whispering calm words to her.  
"It's alright, dear. Let it out."  
Aurora was still crying with some single words speaking.  
"...horrible ... I'd thought ... never ... alive ... no help ...Galahad ... Tristan ..."  
As Vanora heard the names of the two knights she looked up and thought how they had handled with her leaving. It wasn't as easy with them as before. They had changed in a similar way.  
She'd heard that Galahad wanted to know which of the two men Aurora really loved but Aurora couldn't tell him. Tristan himself hadn't been there at all. So Aurora had left them bothl. Galahad begun to develop his hatred against the Romans and he wished more and more that the 15 years would be over. He was so upset that he became more brutal in fighting than he ever had been. It seemed as if he would vent his spleen on the woads they were still fighting. One night she had spoken with Galahad and he just excused his behaviour with the words " They took my biggest love ever!" So Vanora decided not to speak about it anymore.  
Tristan also became more brutal and sadistic on the battlefield than Vanora could imagine. She heard Bors speaking to Dagonet about Tristan. As she knew that Tristan had never shown any feelings it would've been pointless trying to speak to him.

"Vanora! I've found a lil child. It's not yours, is it?"

Aurora was shocked by the sound of this voice. Vanora turned around.  
" No. It's not mine but Aurora's. I think you'll remember her, doesn't you ...Tristan?"

Tristan and Aurora were both thunderstruck. They stared at each other and Vanora could almost snatch the tension filling in the air. Aurora was the first who moved. She grabbed her son, who lightly protested and went out of the tavern. 

Tristan peeked after her, his feelings a rollercoaster.

"It doesn't seems as if she really like you anymore." Vanora said and followed her.


	3. The First Meeting Pt1

Chapter 2 -

Vanora followed Aurora into her room. Aurora just had laid Alexander on her bed. She hadn't gotten a baby bed yet, but she also thought she didn't need one, cause he would needed a bigger one soon. A baby cradle would be too small for him then.

She was so confused and also a bit angry with Tristan. She wasn't really sure why she now was angry with him. He hadn't done something wrong. He just brought her son back, because she was too busy herself and had forgotten for the first time that she had a son. She was more angry with herself and transferred it on Tristan.

" What was that? Did you want your meeting with him this way? I don't think so, do you?" Vanora asked her.

Aurora jerked cause she hadn't noticed Vanora had followed her. She was once again lost in thoughts about Tristan. She decided to talk with him later or tomorrow and thank him for bringing her son back.

She turned to Vanora.

"No. Not really. I guess I overreacted a bit, didn't I? He didn't do anything wrong...I was just..."

"You've been shocked. That's just natural, if you remember whate you've gone through with him and even Galahad. So don't worry about how you've reacted. I think Tristan won't die from it. It will only make him only harder." She winked at Aurora and smiled.

Alexander gave a soft snore and turned on his other side. Aurora covered him up and said:

"Would you stay with him for a while? I wanted to look for Tristan and..talk with him."

"Do you really want to? "

"I don't know...I...yes I want to clear some things with him. Would you?" She pointed at her sleeping son.

"If you really want it than I'll have no problem staying with him. Then go and look for him. I think he'll be in the tavern drinkin' with the knights." She went over to the bed and sat down, watching Alexander carefully.

As Aurora was almost out of the room, she called:

"And what will you do if you meet Galahad? I think you'll have to clear something with him too, won't you?"

Aurora stopped. She had totally forgotten that Galahad would probably be with the knights. Now she was in trouble.

"Then I'll check first if Galahad is also there. If he is, I'll come back immediately. I don't want a fight in the tavern. I wanna talk with him alone and no audience. You understand that, don't you!"

"Of course I do. So hurry up or Tristan will be too drunk for a sensible conversation."

With these words Aurora walked out of her room and headed to the tavern. She looked around to make sure she didn't meet Galahad. She wasn't ready to meet him right now. She arrived at the entrance to the tavern, stopped and hid behind a shelf on her left. She carefully looked around to catch sight of Tristan. She saw him sitting in a corner, eating an apple. She remembered that he always was eating apples. She also wasn't surprised that he was sitting alone. He always have been the lonely guy. But this fact had made him so attractive to her.

Suddenly Tristan looked up and gazed right in her direction. Aurora was shocked and hid behind the shelve. She should have known it. Tristan had always known when someone was staring at him or spying him. He was a scout. She would liked to kick herself for forgetting what Tristan was like. How could she forget that?

Now she had to go to him. She slowly walked towards him, still looking for Galahad. When she arrived, Tristan cut of a piece of apple and put it into his mouth.

Aurora cleared her throat and stuttered more than speaking.

"Can..can we...talk?"

Tristan mumbled something, she couldn't really understand. So she enquired even more nervously than she already was.

"Sorry. What did you say? I...I didn't really understand...sorry." She felt herself blushing. Tristan stood up and Aurora automatically stepped back, not knowing what he would do next. She knew his incalculable character. But he didn't do anything evil.

"Follow me. I think you don't want to talk to me with audience, do you?"

Aurora wasn't sure if it was good to follow him into a dark corner, but she didn't want to stay here either. So she nodded and followed him as he led her out of the tavern.

He walked into the stable, because he knew that there was enough space and no one in there. For some reason he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable or afraid.

Okay...so you wanted to talk. Then talk."

Aurora cleared her throat and started.

" I wanted.. to thank you...you brought my son back. I didn't noticed that he'd left me for a discovery tour through the tavern. It so many things could've happened to him, if you hadn't caught him. It was nice of you. Thank you. It was weird that he didn't started crying as he always does with strangers around him. There must have been something about you that impressed him very much. I don't know. And ...yes...what did I want to tell you?..Sorry..I just arrived 2 hours ago and I'm very tired." She pushed her hair back and looked at Tristan.

He was serious as always. "I don't like children that much. They are disturbing in some ways. But what are you doing here? I thought you were never coming back again." Aurora was a bit shocked by his words but she also realized that he thought with her leaving he could have made a final stroke under their relationship.

And now she was back again. He still felt something for her. She felt sure of it.

Tristan was very confused that Aurora was back from Rome. He wished she would have stayed away, so that he could've forgotten her. But it wasn't that easy. She had touched something in him, nobody had done before. He had desired her for a long time. And soon after their first meeting they had landed in his bed. It had been the most beautiful night in his life he'd thought. She had also liked it. But he must have done something wrong. She had started dating Galahad as well. He had begun stalking her and had followed her wherever she had gone. He had almost caught them in intimacy, but he had fled from the place.

Now he was thinking that he had confronted her too late. She had evolved feelings for Galahad very early and he had been watching it without doing anything. It was his fault. And now she was back and Galahad absent, because he was on a mission for Arthur, but Tristan was there. He knew that she was still feeling something for him. He could see it in her eyes. Even though he'd been such a fool when she'd left. He wasn't there, because he couldn't stand that his only love was leaving him. So he'd stayed away. She didn't know this fact, and he didn't want to tell her. It would made him vulnerable. And he hated that feeling.

"I've been released by the Roman commander. He didn't need me anymore, so he allowed me to join the group riding here. And now I'm here. I...I was afraid of coming back. I'm still..." She noticed that Tristan was coming nearer to her. Since they were standing face to face, Aurora knew what would follow. She had benn in this situation many times before.


End file.
